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9) 


It is a human trait to judge a stranger by one’s own knowl- 
edge and not by what the stranger knows, and it is very funny 
to observe the manner in which a horse owner will conclude 
that a man is a good engineer if he knows horses. Many an 
engineer of very mediocre ability has risen to high station be- 
cause ot his good luck in eaptivating the fancy of some great 
man whose knowledge of engineering was derived from the 
dictionary. 

The language of an engineer is precise. He has not time 
to multiply his words and what he says must be specific and 
definite. In small talk he is not versed and in a war of words 
is easily defeated. His thought is direct and to the point. 
He is impatient of insincerity or dissembling. A glib-tongued 
gossip will imagine that the engineer is bested in an argument 
but a larger mind would disturb the complacency of the self- 
styled victor. If one would understand the profession, he 
must seek its acquaintance. Some one has said that. the engi- 
neers are so busy making history that they have not time to 
write it. This is true and has operated to their detriment. 
Not being understood, the credit has not been given them and 
the greatest good that can be done for the profession is for 
the members to learn to talk and to write with a facility that 
will enable them to be better understood. 

The greatest strength of an engineer is the justice of his 
position. Right is might and a clear presentation of his case 
will always command consideration. He is generally right, 
but often suffers himself to be browbeaten by men who are 
skilled in wire-pulling and misrepresentation. 

Honesty is characteristic of engineers. It is the result of their 
training. Their habit of thought must be honest for success 
in their work. They cannot juggle with Nature. The force 
of gravity is never asleep. It must be reckoned with. It is 
the same with the expansive force of steam and with’the po- 
tential of electricity. They are always the same. For the 
engineer who would cheat such forces the penalty is death. 
These thoughts are impressed upon his character and the de- 
ceitful engineer is abnormal and a failure in his profession. 

The engineer is religious. He may have no creed, but his 
life is spent among the great things of Nature, and her mys- 
teries are ever present in his thought. The small mind grows 
familiar with electricity and is extinguished in a trice. The 
sublime grandeur of the natural forces and of their laws, of 
astronomy and the wonder of its infinite expanse, are his con- 
stant companions. There is reason for the prediction that the 
world’s next great epic poem will have for its theme the 
achievements of engineering. In the past the poets have sung 
of love and war. It has remained for the engineer to secure 


U of | Library Champaign-Urbana 


6 


for the arts of peace the dominant position in civilization. The 
triumphs of transportation, of electric transmission and of 
power development have revolutionized the life of the race and 
caused, during the last century, a greater advance toward the 
millennium than has cecurred in any preceding thousand years. 
Kiphng has sensed the thought in the following lines: 
They say to the mountains, “Be ye removed!” 
They say to the lesser floods, “Run dry!” 
Under their rods are the rocks reproved, 
They are not afraid of that which is high. 
Then do the hill tops shake to the summit; 
Then is the bed of the deep laid bare 
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, 
Pleasantly sleeping and unaware. 


But the bitterness that pervades, ‘‘The Sons of Martha’’ is 
not of the spirit that ‘‘conquers the earth.’’ 


Campus Scene, Iowa State Cellage 


If ‘‘Her sons must wait upon Mary’s sons—world without 
end, reprieve or rest’’—the glory is theirs. To serve one’s fel- 
jowmen, to add to the safety, the comfort and happiness of 
mankind is a divine gift and brings one to intimate fellowship 
with the Creator. 

Engineering has been termed the precise profession. It is a 
popular conception that engineering design is the result of 
calculation and, therefore, mathematically precise. This notion 
is far from the truth and has in the past led to some very 
awkward situations. It is the scientist that is mathemati- 
eally precise. If an engineer is measuring earthwork that is 


7 


worth twenty-five cents per cubic yard, he uses an ordinary 
tape line, which he knows will not give a high degree of pre- 
eision to the results. This is because the irregularities of the 
eround surface are such that with a more perfect tape the 
results would be no better. In measuring a smooth brick pave- 
ment worth about three dollars per square yard, he uses a 
steel tape and gets a much closer result. It is always his aim 
to adjust the precision of his work to the needs of the case. 
The timber of a railway trestle is measured sometimes to the 
nearest sixteenth of an inch, but fine machined steel is fre- 
quently calipered to the nearest thousandth of an inch. 

In ealeulating the strength of a structure it is obvious, if one 
will but think, that the load must be an assumed average, 


i) 


Campus Scene, Iowa State College 


that the actual strength of the material varies considerably 
with its nature and quality, and that the resulting design, to 
be safe, must be calculated from liberal values. This’ gives 
rise to a technical term called the factor of safety and it is 
commonly talked among laymen that the average factor of 
safety is four. That is, in their thought, a structure safely 
designed and built will carry four times the load for which 
it is planned. This is one of the most pernicious notions the 
engineer must combat. If he knew to a pound the weight of a 
load and if he knew to a poind the strength of his material, he 
would build a support that would carry the load, but fail per- 
haps, with the addition of another pound. But he never knows 


8 


these things so precisely ; and with the knoweldge which he has, 
ii is his function to design safe structures, making use of the 
judgment derived from experience as a substitute for facts 
which cannot be known. If he says he has used a factor of 
safety of four, he means that having made his calculations 
with certain assumed values, his structure would carry four 
times the assumed load if all his assumptions were correct. 
But because of the innate perversity of material things he 
knows that his ideas are not fully realized and that some- 
where between his plans and the finished structure there may 
lie a hidden defect of fatal possibilities, and he has used this 
safety factor to guard against disaster and to insure long life 
to the structure. It is the selfish penuriousness of the busi- 
ness man that prompts the construction of works of insufficient 
strength. He reasons that the structure will stand with a 
factor of safety for two and perhaps his connection therewith 
will be severed and his profit realized before the failure comes. 
This sophistry is a weighty reason why all structures that may 
threaten the safety of human life should be constructed under 
the supervision of men of established integrity and skill. 

An engineer should be a leader of men. He occupies of ne- 
cessity a commanding position among his co-workers and with- 
out a goodly supply of the qualities of leadership the highest 
success will not be reached. The times are rife with rebellious | 
thought and one who listens may come to think the exercise 
of authority a crowning sin. Children are not trained in obedi- 
ence either at home or in school and among adults the break- 
ing of a rule or the evasion of a law is a gleeful adventure. 
Such conditions are born of ignorance and malice. It is im- 
possible to erect a great steel building without the most per- 
fect discipline among the workmen. No great effort involving 
the co-operation of a multitude of men ean be successful with- 
out a clock-like organization and the faithful observance of 
orders by its every unit. But organization and discipline 
are not synonyms of despotism and history shows that the 
ereaiest leaders have been both loved and revered by their 
mer. It is needless to say that a small-minded man of selfish 
elms and meanness of spirit would fail to qualify in this im- 
portant particular for the life of an engineer. 

In recent years the greatly increased popularity of technical 
and scientific education has produced such an influx to the 
ranks of the profession that talk of overcrowding is frequently 
heard and there has been a lessened rate of increase of attend- 
ance at colleges of engineering. The profession has proved so 
attractive that persons whose motives seem purely mercenary 
have sought to stimulate the education of engineers just as the 
steamship companies stimulate the travel of immigrants, and 


8) 


we have with us now, as a result of this commercialism, a mul- 
titude of young men claiming the title of engineers, who have 
learned too little of science and mathematics to permit their 
advancement beyond the grade of skilled workmen. 

But talk of overcrowding brings to mind the fierce labor 
riots along the Erie Canal during the early development of 
railroads. Graphie accounts of these disturbances are filed 
among the Assembly Documents at Albany. Their origin was 
Tounded in the belief that the development of railroads would 
destroy the business of building canals and that there would 
be no work for the laboring men. Looking backwards over the 
years of phenomenal railroad development and remembering 
the difficulty that has been experienced many times in securing 
a sufficient supply of labor and that in spite of the rapid 
increase in population, one can hardly believe in the sanity of 
the advocates of such sophistry. 

The case of the enginering profession today is in a measure 
parallel to that of the canal builders. Having attained the 
summit of engineering achievement in the building of the 
Panama Canal, the pessimists whose peculiarities were so viv- 
idiy described thousands of years ago in the book of EKeclesi- 
astes, see only retrogression and decline. But engineering art 
is too young, too virile for such a fate. We have problems to 
solve which will cause the Panama Canal to occupy a much 
smaller portion of our field of vision than it does today. The 
regulation and control of the Mississippi River is such a prob- 
lem, there is little doubt but that the time will come when its 
waters will be controlled and the immense areas of land that 
are annually devastated by its floods will become productive 
farms, and the appalling losses be greatly lessened. Our irri- 
vation problems, the Salton Sea, the Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado River afford opportunities for engineering works 
of the highest order. The improvement of transportation lines 
through cities, streams and mountains will eall forth our utmost 
energy and skill. Water supplies and the sanitation of cities 
are of immediate necessity and it will be many years before our 
highways can attain a development comparable to those of the 
ancient Romans. 

There are fashions in engineering as in spring hats. The 
popular mind does not seem capable of thinking calmly of 
more than one style at a time and suiting them to its needs. 
Just now reinforced conerete holds the stage. Stone masonry 
is a thing of the past. At one time canals were popular. Then 
eame the railroads. Now better highways are much desired 
and canals are looming in the distance. Locally there is dif- 
ficulty in assigning proper relative importance to sewerage and 
water supply. 


10 : 


But of lack of engineering problems there is none. It is not 

2 ease of lack of work but how much work can we do. How 
soon will we be strong enough and skilful enough to under- 
take hopefully other and larger problems that will add still 
more to the delightfulness of the beautiful land in which we 
live. The words of the poet: 

“Who loves to work, and knows to spare, 

Can live and flourish anywhere.” 
should be ever with us. Dissension and controversy were never 
mile-stones on the road to suecess. Untiring industry, willing 
and unselfish co-operation are the needs of the hour. 


Testing an Engine, lowa State Ccllege 


He is a fortunate engineer whose early training and educa- 
tion has been planned with an eye to his future profession. 
Much of the fitness which a man may have for the work of his 
life is the result of early environment and training, a conspicu- 
eus fact in the lives of engineers. It has been commonly re- 
marked that young men from the country display a superior 
aptitude for surveying. This is to be expected. The country 
boy has many opportunities to acquire a self-reliance and re- 
sourcefulness in his peculiar environment that are useful on 
extensive surveys. He learns to wield an axe or a saw, to 
outwit an angry bull or a vicious dog, to build a fire and to 
find his way through dense woods in the dark. 


11 


In the city this development is supplied to a degree and in 
some respects excelled by the training of the technical schools. 
It is essential that an engineer should be intimately familiar 
with the properties of structural material and this knowledge 
he ean gain in the various schools. He handles the iron at the 
jorge and in the lathe and pours it molten from the furnace to 
the molds which he has made. He cuts the wood and fashions 
it into forms of which he has first made careful drawings. He 
does these things because of the pleasure he feels in building 
with his own hands, but a later date when called upon to 
construct great works he uses the materials wisely because he 
knows them as friends. He knows their properties and capa- 
bilities and putting them together, each in its proper place, 
there is produced a thing of strength and usefulness. 

Engineering appeals to boys because it requires a vigorous, 
active life which ineludes much adventure and hardship. The 
iatter may not appeal to his mother, but a healthy boy loves 
to test his endurance and measure his courage and strength 
with full-grown men. And in engineering he ean find his fill. 
trom the bowels of the earth to the moutain peaks, there are 
surveys to make and railroads to build. There is work in 
Alaska, China and Africa as well as in lands more like home. 
There are strange men and strange animals and stranger cur- 
rents and storms and secret dangers. 

The football field is a fine place for a prospective engineer. 
It develops his nerve and his will. Discipline is of prime im- 
portance and it is becoming increasingly rare. The West Point 
eraduates make excellent engineers and one of their strong 
points is their even, well-regulated conduct under all sorts of 
conditions. <A soldierly bearing has value for other purposes 
than dress parade. It inspires confidence and obedience. It 
maintains order and commands respect. 

An engineer must have a fine sense of honor. For this the- 
West Point men are famous, and one of Cornell’s strong points 
is the well maintained honor system of conducting examina- 
tions. The responsibilities and temptations of an engineer are 
greater than most men realize and only men of the strongest 
and highest character pass unscathed through the crucial tests. 

But it is too much to enumerate the virtues of mankind. With 
one virtue a man may attain some success. If perchance he 
has a second virtue his success may be doubled. But when he- 
has attained high station, a single fault, if unrestrained, may 
work his downfall. The scriptural specifications of human 
success are to be revered. ‘‘ Ambition ruined Caesar,’’ and the 
rest of the unholy traits are ever active in the eternal process - 
of bringing us all to the level of the meek and lowly. 


12 


The studies which are peculiarly designed for the devel- 
opment of an engineer are mathematics and science. Of 
course there are others but of these the nature is such that 
they are rarely pursued except at school, while descriptive texts 
can be read at any time. No boy who is to become an engineer 
can absorb too much algebra, geometry and physics unless it 
be to the exclusion of other knowledge. 

There are varied lines of engineering work. In some, there 
is much to be done with a modicum of mathematics, in others 
there is need for all the learning of Simon Newcomb. So if 
there be much learning it will not lack a useful field and if the 
learning be scanty there may still be a field of small dimen- 
sions and small reward. 

There is competition among the colleges to see which one 
ean publish the longest list of studies. It makes the poor boy 
dizzy and serves to befog the light. A few subjects carefully 
selected and thoroughly taught will do far more to develop a 
useful mind than the most elaborate curriculum hastily 
skimmed in the allotted time for a college course. It might 
prick the pride of a college president to know that his own 
institution had failed to cover the whole realm of human 
thought, but when more attention is given to the development 
of men and less thought to the making of encyclopedias, the 
beneficial effect will be quickly apparent. Surveying, hy- 
draulics and applied mechanics are essential for an engineer. 
Geometry and drawing are taught in the high schools but their 
study should be continued at college. Trigonometry must be 
learned from A to Z. It is the basis of a great variety of com- 
putations. If these subjects have been studied thoroughly 
under good teachers, the foundation for an engineering educa- 
tion has been laid. A completed education does not exist. A 
professional man must study always. In college his greatest 
ueed is to learn to study, to grow familiar with books and 
their use. 

While the subjects already named are most directly useful 
in engineering, the benefits of a more general education must 
not be overlooked. Enginering is a learned profession and its 
members must of necessity be well versed in a great variety of 
knowledge. In general and specifically he is charged with the 
practical application of natural science. Beyond that his rela- 
tions with other men are such that a knowledge of logic and 
law are very helpful. He should be a good accountant and be 
familiar with the use of indexes and files. In the mad rush 
to secure an income it has been common to neglect the study 
of English. No man ean be a good engineer until he has de- 
veloped a logical mind and to such a mind any idea of pro- 
fessional success without the best possible control of one’s na- 


13 


tive tongue is preposterous in the extreme. All intercourse be- 
tween men is through the medium of language and it should be 
one’s first coneern to attain the greatest possible facility and 
correctness in expressing his thoughts. Too little education, 
too hasty preparation, has wrought great injury to the profes- 
gion. 

There has been much discussion about the possibility of be- 
coming an engineer without a college education. Some men 
have done so but the problem is simple. A remarkable athlete 
can win a contest with a handicap, but most of us are glad to 
win with all the advantages possible. No better anwer can be 
made. 

Because of the nature of the work, perhaps the majority of 
engineers are obliged to travel from place to place and forego 
the pleasures of a permanent abode. By so doing their experi- 
ences and breadth of view are greatly increased and their de- 
velopment is more rapid. 

For a young man seeking employment it is far better to find 
a place on some work of great importance and in the service of 
a man of great ability than to select a position which pays the 
highest salary. No salary can atone for the injury that comes 
from the development of false ideals, and the confidence that 
comes from a thorough knowledge secured from the masters 
is invaluable. 

The young graduate seeking employment is most likely to 
find work as timekeeper, draughtsman or as chainman on a 
survey corps. It is common for young men to feel that their 
first positions are unworthy of their ability and to show some 
discontent. Could they understand that the period is one of 
probation and that if alert and attentive, the knowledge ac- 
quired from observation is of more value than actual practice 
in the things they do, their satisfaction would be greater. It 
is wisely ordained that a soldier shall develop. from the lower 
ranks to the higher and it should be so with engineers. No or- 
ganization ean stand the strain of incompetent direction. Fail- 
ure and bankruptcy are the natural results. In our great cor- 
porate enterprises of the present day the greatest need is that 
the Jeaders be wisely chosen. Failure in this at the top of the 
ladder results in the capitalization of error upon error and 
excessive final cost of production. The corporations must elimi- 
nate competition to cover the blunders and the trust is born. 
Publicity and regulation may result in improvement but more 
thorough education and better engineering are remedies nearer 
at hand. ‘These things can be influenced directly by the pro- 
fession and they should always be uppermost in his thoughts. 


~ ut | Liprary Champaign-Urpaie 


ie 


Iowa State College offers 4-year courses 
in agricultural engineering, agronomy, 
animal husbandry, dairying, horticulture 
and forestry, home economics, ceramics 
and engineering ; 4 and 5-year courses in 
civil, electrical, mechanical and mining 
engineering; a 4-year course in veterin- 
ary medicine; a 4-year course in science 
related to industries. Also, 2-year sub- 
collegiate courses in agriculture and home 
economics, and 1-year courses in dairy- 
ing and poultry husbandry. 

A summer session is conducted for 
teachers and for college credit. 

Address President R. A. Pearson for 
more complete information. 


